i mean how am i supposed to feel after this? is it supposed to be an anit-drug movie? a cop thriller? what? i mean i liked some scenes, the surreal animation, good actors, but the story was just a big blank.
the whole depiction of a spit personality just paled in comparisson to some i'vd seen...idk imo this movive could have done a lot more with the premise.
Where we're going we don't need..roads.
It's more easily understood if you had taken or at the very least hung out with people who took a lot of hard drugs throughout the years. The split personality that is represented is very realistic to that of a hardcore psychonaut (one who overindulges in psychedelics for the most part) and/or other hardcore substances (Substance D is most like methamphetamine, LSD, cocaine, heroin...all rolled into one pill, at least IMO). These distort reality for a small amount of time unless you choose the path of constant (ab)use that can more often than not lead to debilitating addiction in which one's brain does not view reality in the same way that you obviously do.
I don't know what else to say here, it's mostly a rambling rant on my part with loose ends itself, but the main point is: you'd have understood this if you had ever lived this sort of lifestyle whether firsthand or vicariously through friends/family.
A Scanner Darkly is a great pseudo-sci-fi drug story.What sets A Scanner Darkly apart from other science fiction films is the fact that it is a strong anti-drug film, more than it is a movie about Big Brother stealing away our freedoms.
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Perhaps, OP, you are too used to the dumb films that saturate the shelves and cinemas which DO have clear cut, in your face "meaning". This one isn't supposed to TELL you how to feel. You decide.
Oh and he didn't have "split personality". The drug destroys the connection between both hemispheres of your brain. When that connection is gone (look up Split Brain Surgery), you essentially have two minds, but because of how the brain is compartmentalised, each mind has different skills. Look it up.
@Mr. John dead on, man. Couldn't have summed it up better myself.
I don't think his novel or this film was anti-drug. Cautionary tale fits very well if you absolutely need a meaning. The police and government weren't any better than the criminals and drug addicts they pursued. Is it justified to act like a thug and martyr folks (unwitting pawns like Fred/Bob/Bruce) for the sake of capturing the "bad guy" or locking up some drug peddlers.
The book and novel always depress the hell out of me after watching. I know people who were punished entirely too harshly for living their lives against the grain of society. Etc etc, it's all been said already. :)
@kil Split brain surgery? Fascinating! I never heard of it, but sounds damned intriguing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain
I just shot Marvin in the face!